Archive Settings Tab

Archive Settings Tab

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Archive Settings Tab

Contains basic setting pertaining to the archive itself as well as a useful image preview window. This is the default tab, any time you do anything in the file selection tree, this tab will be activated automatically. This tab is divided into 6 Sections

Image File Preview

Archive File Filter

Target Media Size

Volume Name

Layout Options

HTML Index Options

Section 1: Image File Preview

Image Preview (Small)

By clicking on most any file in the FST, you can see a small preview of the image in the Image Preview Window. Almost all common image types are supported (with the exception of GIF and LZW compressed formats, due to patent protection). Even many RAW formats are supported (Canon CRW/TIF and Nikon NEF amongst several others) with fast previews, and without the need for lengthy conversions. (Supported File Types)

Image Preview (Large)

The image preview can also be viewed in a larger display window. Just double click the small preview window and a larger window opens up with the same (but larger) preview image. You can also double click on the large window and have the preview display at 100% size.

This example shows the 2 window, with the larger window set to 100%. You can Pan the image with the mouse as you drag.

Section 2: Archive File Filter

Allows for file name/extension based filtering based on a user defined string with wildcards separated by semi-colons. If Include is selected, the File Section List will be limited to only the files that are in the filter string. If Exclude is selected the File Section List will contain all checked files except the files that are in the filter string. If the Filter is unchecked, the Filter String will have no effect. NOTE: Spaces are literally interpreted and will effect the filtering algorithms. To edit the filter string, select the edit button and a dialog will pop up giving some filter string examples.

The filter string adheres to standard Windows based wildcard filtering. When active, the filter is applied to the File Selection tree. Only files specified by the filter will be shown in the tree. When the tree is filtered, the word "Filtered" will appear in the background of the File Selection tree as a reminder.

Only with "Needs Archiving" bit set. This is another filter type that enables Archive Creator to ignore previously archived files. To help in managing what files have been or need to be archived, Microsoft file systems support the notion of a flag associated with each file that indicates if the file "needs Archiving". This flag is actually a' bit ' in a status 'word' attached to each file called the Archive Bit. Any time a file is created, modified, or moved the flag is set indicating that the file "Needs Archiving". Backup and Archiving programs can optionally make use of this flag to keep track of which file should be backed up/archived and which should be ignored. Typically a backup program will clear the "Needs Archiving" flag after it has backed up the file.

As with the normal file filter feature , only files needing archiving will appear in the file selection tree and therefore only files needing archiving will be processed and included in the archive set. Also, the "Filtered" indicator will be active when this feature is enabled.

NOTE: The "Needs Archiving" flag is not used exclusively by Archive Creator. Other backup and archiving programs can make use of this flag and change it's state. If you are using other software that manages the "Needs Archiving" flag (Archive Bit) you need to be very careful in relying on this mechanism to manage your archive.

Section 3: Target Media Size

The type and size of Archive Set that is being written within this session is selected in this drop-down combo box.

If you are burning CDs, then select 1 of the 4 CD selections, and if DVD then 1 of the 4 DVD selections or if archiving to a folder then use the Folder selection. The choices are..

CD 74Min (appx 650 MB) - Will burn to CDs and limit the capacity of each disc in the set to appx. 650MB.

CD 80Min (appx 700 MB) - Will burn to CDs and set the capacity of each disc in the set to their full capacity of appx. 700 MB

CD Custom - Will burn to CDs and limit the capacity of each disc to the value set by the Custom Size control.

CD HTML Index - Will burn just the HTML Photo Index to a CD, but will allow an Archive Set of "virtual" size so that an index can be made of a large volume, such as a Hard Disk that has been used as an Archive Target. This index can then be copied to the Hard Disk (File|Copy Index Folder), and/or burned to a CD for reference.

DVD (appx 4.3GB) - Will burn to DVDs and set the capacity of each disc in the set to their full capacity of appx. 4.3GB (formatted)

DVD Custom - Will burn to DVDs and limit the capacity of each disc to the value set by the Custom Size control. The control can be set up to 4,480MB, but not all drives/media combinations can support this size, so be careful when setting sizes above 4,300MB. Not all discs will be able to be written to that size.

DVD FAT Caching - The microsoft windows FAT file system (both FAT 16 and 32) have a file size restriction of 4.2 gigabytes. If your system hard drive is formatted using the FAT file system and you wish to Cache the data to disc before burning, selecting this target will ensure that the amount of data placed on each DVD will not exceed the max file size so that the data can be cached to disc before burning. This is also useful if generating ISO 9660 images on a FAT file system. To tell if your drive is a FAT file system drive, simple bring up the properties window for the drive.

DVD HTML Index - Will burn just the HTML Photo Index to a DVD, but will allow an Archive Set of "virtual" size so that an index can be made of a large volume, such as a Hard Disk that has been used as an Archive Target. This index can then be copied to the Hard Disk (File|Copy Index Folder), and/or burned to a DVD for reference.

Folder-Use this selection when archiving to a folder on a hard drive. This will allow for effectively "unlimited" archive size so that your files will not be partitioned into archive volumes.

Section 4: Media Volume Name

Archive Name (Media Volume Name) - This is the actual Windows Volume name for each CD (or DVD) In the Archive Set. it will be appended with the sequence number of each specific CD. For example, UserGuideDemo_1, UserGuideDemo_2, etc. When the CD is later viewed in Windows Explorer, this is the name that will be associated with each CD in the Windows file system.

First Vol # - This is the number that will be appended to the Archive name to create the first Cad in the set. The number is remembered from session to session, based on the higher of the last burned CD and the entered number. If the Always Reset Volume Number is checked, then this value is always set to #1.

Width - This sets the number of characters in the volume number. The width will always be the greater of the width setting or the actual width of the volume number. If the width is set to 2 and the vol # is 5, then the vol # will be "05". If the vol number is 123, and the width is set to 2, then the volume number will be "123". You can also set the Width to "Auto" in which case the width will always be the width of the volume number.

Always Reset Volume Number - When checked, this sets the volume number to 1 for the first CD in the Archive Set.

First Vol: - Shows a Preview of the Volume Name, taking into account all of the settings.

Section 5: Layout Options

These options are useful for ensuring that the media capacity is used most efficiently, especially when folders contain files of varying sizes.

Split Folders Across Archives - When checked, this allows a folder of files to be split across 2 or more CDs. This provides the most efficient manner in which to layout the Archive Set. If left unchecked, Archive Creator will attempt to keep an entire folder within 1 CD. If the folder is bigger than 1 CD a dialog will be displayed.

Shuffle Files within Folders- When checked, the files within a folder, that is going to be split between archive media will be shuffled between the media to ensure the most optimal use of the discs. For example, lets say a folder contains the following files...

FileA - 10 meg

FileB- 10 Meg

FileC- 100 Meg

FileD- 10 Meg

And assume there is only 35 meg left on the first archive disc. If the Split folders options is enabled. FileA and B will be on the first disc but C will not fit so C and D will get added to the beginning of the second disc, leaving 10 meg unused on the first. If the shuffle files option is enabled, then Files A, B and D will be written to the first disc and C will be added to the next, reducing the wasted space.

Section 6: HTML Index Settings

These settings are some of the basic HTML Index options pertaining to the archive set.

Include Index on - This check box determines if an HTML (Web Style) index will be created or not. The text fields that you see in the bottom of this section are self explanatory and will appear in the top frame of each index page on each CD. You can also set the location of where the index will be written by selecting one of the following choices..

· All Disks - This is the default. The index will be written on all the disks. This is the most convenient setting, but it is also the most inefficient in terms of space utilization. On smaller Archive Sets, this is very convenient, on larger Archive Sets, it is better to limit the index to one of the other choices.

· Only First Disk - This writes the Index onto the first disk along with files from the Archive set, This is the most efficient method to create an archive set with an index and use the least number of CDs

· Separate Disk (First) -This write the Index to the first disk, with no other files from the archive set written to that disk.

· Separate Disk (Last) -This write the Index to the last disk, with no other files from the archive set written to that disk.

Template- HTML Index Templates are basically specifications that tell the HTML generation functions how to build the Index and how it should behave. For detailed description on the templates and the differences between them see HTML Templates and Styles

Style- Some templates allow customizable styles to be applied to them. These styles can drastically effect the look of the HTML index. For detailed description on the styles see HTML Templates and Styles

Archive Title,Description, Misc 1, Misc 2 and Date

These settings all relate to what will appear on the title bar of the html index. The following image shows the title bar of an index with the various fields and their placement.